A Film Unfinished is an unparalleled peek into the Warsaw Ghetto in its height, and also a disturbing account of the Nazi propaganda machine.

It is certainly a “Holocaust film,” but it also has a perspective and feel that’s all its own.

The film is focused on the contents of a dusty old film can, simply labeled “Das Ghetto,” in an underground German vault in the forest.

When archivists opened the can, they found an unfinished propaganda film shot in the Warsaw Ghetto in May 1942, only three months before deportations began.

This propaganda film juxtaposes the most extreme poverty of the Warsaw Ghetto with staged scenes of wealthy Jewish people.

A Film Unfinished is the first feature film for director Yael Hersonski, and certainly proves him to be an excellent researcher.

The story of the film “Das Ghetto” is told through the journals, court testimony and official documents of dozens of people.

Hersonski focuses heavily on Adam Czerniakow, the Jewish Chairman of Judenrat who was essentially a Nazi-Jewish liaison for the ghetto.

Another key figure is Willy Wist, the head camera man for the film who was later called to testify during the post-Second World War human rights trials.

Hersonski makes some strange decisions, specifically including reactions and interviews with holocaust survivors who are never properly introduced or identified until the film’s credits.

Overall, however, the film is stylishly edited with a pace that suits the sombre subject of the film.

The warp and warble of the old film footage also perfectly embodies the ghetto images of an entire people having their lives slowly strangled.

Make no mistake about it, the film is as disturbing and appalling as you would think a Holocaust documentary would be.

And the strange interspersions of elegant wide-angle shots of lavish Jewish homes only increase that knot in your gut, as you come to realize more and more certainly what the Nazi filmmakers intentions were with this film.

For this reason, A Film Unfinished is a Holocaust documentary all to its own, and one that is an absolute must-see for the found footage nut.

Published in Volume 65, Number 19 of The Uniter (February 10, 2011)